He was able to get Aeris to let him into the library once more, just by saying that he was going to go look at the same section as before, just to see if he could learn a little more.
She sighed and let him in, so here he was.
That same little corner of the infinite library, filled with all sorts of books on how to smile, and how to fit in.
Aeris left a few minutes earlier, leaving him there, alone. The silence of the vast, empty space filled his ears, something that would be pretty unsettling to others, but it just brought him comfort. He was quite quiet, too, after all.
He walked along the shelves, touching the spines of the books, feeling for a certain book in particular.
Now, you may be wondering why he had returned to this small part of the library if he lost all hope in ever being able to do it himself, but that was actually part of the reason why he was still there.
It was true that he no longer believed that he could learn to fit in by himself, but Winter was quite a stubborn boy. Once he had a goal in mind, he honed in, and focused on achieving only that goal, no matter how nonsensical the means to that may be.
His goal for now was to smile. Act like a normal person. Express himself in a normal and acceptable manner, like the books tried to teach him.
To do that, he had a plan, something he was going to do from the start, actually.
He was going to find the One With a Million Faces, an old spirit he had heard of from time to time. Its hobby was collecting faces, hence the name.
Winter was sure that it could help him. It possessed magic forgotten to time, and was rumored to help with the summoner’s wishes. However, most of the time, the aid was actually just a ploy to steal the wisher’s face, but… if the person was fast enough, they could probably avoid getting it stolen. He was sure that he was fast enough. He definitely was.
There were plenty of other spirits that could help with wishes and probably had less of a chance of stealing faces, sure, but he had his eye on this one in particular for a couple of reasons.
First, it was one of the only ones that actually listened to requests. No funny, ironic warping of wishes, it simply complied. Second, it had so many faces that it had stolen and attached to itself. Surely it would know how to use them all in a proper manner.
Anyway, at the start, he didn’t exactly know how to find the old spirit, which was why he was so quick to accept Aeris’ request that he learn normally, with the books in the magical library.
But the corner she showed him… there had been a book he stumbled across. A book that probably wasn’t even meant to be there, and had been misplaced.
How to Find the One With a Million Faces.
When he pulled out the book the first time, and read the title, he simply closed it and slid it back into its place on the shelf, still believing there was a chance he could learn on his own.
The second time around, he was ready to get the book and follow all the instructions to the letter.
Now, all he had to do was find the book…
It was very worn down, he remembered that. To the point where the edges were starting to peel apart.
Most of the spines he felt were quite new, or at the very least, held together very well, and his heart started to drop… until he felt it. The book. Exactly how he felt before.
Yes, this was it, and it was how he remembered. Slowly, he pulled it out of the shelf, trying his best to handle the old tome gently. Some of the pages were sliding around, but he tried his best not to let them fall as he sat down and opened it up.
Like all of the other magical books, it started to read out loud. It started with the title, and spoke in his own voice, though he was not the one speaking.
“How to Find the One With a Million Faces.”
There it was.
He listened closely to the magical book that rested on his lap, to each and every word. The book talked about finding it, but it really meant how to summon it. Apparently the creature liked to rest in the spirit world, so it would be hard to find in the normal world.
Unlike most things that required summoning, though, this didn’t actually need any sacrifices or material potions. It only needed a simple chant, which would be put at the end of the book.
He was almost at the end of the book, actually, when a voice, that wasn’t coming from it, came from his right.
“Winter, I’m so happy that I found you!”
The pale boy perked up at the voice, surprised, but not disappointed to hear it.
Because it sounded like Grey. From what he could tell, it didn’t just sound like the boy- it was him. He just could… feel his soul there, in a sense.
“Grey?” Winter quietly asked, waiting for confirmation.
“Yep, that’s me!” the boy chirped, but Winter was quite puzzled. What was Grey doing in the infinite library in the first place? He sat down next to the boy, and as if he had read his mind, he said: “I wanted to try to learn why I can suddenly see ghosts, so Aeris let me in the library.”
Winter closed the book in his lap and quickly placed it to the side, so that Grey wouldn’t see it, and continued on with the conversation. “Why are you alone?” he mumbled. It wasn’t like the library guide to just put someone in there with no idea where to exit.
“Well… she walked me to a bookshelf real close to the exit, so that once I was done, I could just leave easily. She even tied a string to my wrist and attached it to the door, just in case…”
The taller boy simply wanted to sigh. He knew what Grey was going to say next.
“But I got curious, you know? I told myself I wouldn’t go too far, just a few more shelves back, so I untied the string and walked around for a bit. Then…”
“You got lost,” Winter concluded, and decided to let out the sigh, but only on a small scale. He shook his head lightly at the boy. “The library moves. You didn’t know?”
“Yep! I got lost, and I didn’t know, but now I do!” How could he manage to sound so happy and cheerful constantly, even when talking about being lost for hours?
Oh well. It was just Grey.
“You’re lucky you found me,” said Winter, trying to nudge the book into the bookshelf behind him, on the off-chance that Grey would be able to connect the dots. The section itself was a bit of a giveaway, but thankfully, he probably hadn’t noticed.
“I’d hope so. I’ve been wandering around here for hours, my legs are so tired…” he followed it up with a light laugh, something that contrasted quite a lot with his words. “So, why are you out here alone without Aeris? Or a string tied to your wrist? You don’t seem like the type to untie it.”
“I have my exit,” Winter said, not elaborating any more, and felt Grey near him as he tried to peek around his shoulder at his left hand, where he was still trying to hide the book.
“What’s the book in your hand?”
Winter shrugged.
“Can I see… oh.” Grey must have been reading the title, and the ones on the bookshelves behind him, because he could feel the mood change, now including a twinge of disappointment. “Winter, I already told you that you don’t have to try to change yourself to fit in.”
“Sorry,” he said so quietly that a pin dropping would cover up his voice.
Grey halted too. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be ordering you around like this. But I really don’t think it’s a good idea, what you’re doing.”
He blinked, letting the words sink in.
“Especially that face creature thing. I don’t know what it is, but Aeris told me that if you bring it up, I should tell you it’s dangerous.”
“I know,” said Winter, and clutched the book tighter, not needing to hide it anymore.
“No, seriously. Apparently it steals your face when you try to make a deal with it.”
“I know,” Winter repeated once more.
“You don’t have to risk your face for some bullies. I like your face. It helps you talk to me, and it’s pretty.”
The pale boy felt his cheeks warm up, but then the nice warmth faded as he remembered what people in his class thought about him. How everyone must have been thinking about it, actually. Perhaps he was just being irrational, but he didn’t like just the thought of it.
He wanted to be normal.
“Okay…” he said. This was the second time Grey was trying to talk him out of it, but he still didn’t see why he shouldn’t. Everything seemed like it would be better if he just changed himself to fit in.
Not wanting to say any more, though, he decided to change the topic, and turned around so that his back was facing Grey.
“Get on.”
“Um… what?” Grey asked.
“I’ll carry you. Your legs are tired.”
“To the exit?” he asked, and Winter nodded. There was then a pause, like he was actually considering it for a second, but then he sighed. “It’s really, really sweet, and I’d love to take up the offer, but I don’t want to burden you.”
“Not a burden,” Winter countered. “You’re light.”
“You sure?” he asked once more, and when Winter just made an mm-hm noise, he slowly got on. Just like Winter remembered, he was very light and easy to carry, even as he stood up. “Thank you, Winter.” After a short pause in which he leaned his head on the taller boy’s shoulder, he asked: “How did you know I was light before you lifted me, though? You seem to know a lot of things like that for some reason.”
Oh dear. At the question, Winter realized that he had maybe gotten too careless, and let just a few things slip. That wasn’t like him. Usually, he thought through sentences very carefully….
“Just a hunch,” he murmured, hoping that Grey would just believe it and move on with his day. After all, he wasn’t really the type to think about things too much after he was given an explanation.
“Okay,” Grey chirped, not the slightest doubt or suspicion in his voice. “I believe you. It’s weird, because… I kind of get these hunches too, with you.”
Winter held his breath for a second in two, laced with worry, but kept walking. What did he mean?
“Like how I can tell exactly what you’re thinking with just the smallest gestures, like I’ve known you for years. Or how you won’t respond well to loud noises.”
“...” Winter didn’t exactly know what to say in reply, but the knot of worry in his heart grew. There was no way that they messed up. Right?
“Well,” Grey continued, humming a sound of indifference, “it must have just been a hunch, like yours. If it was something important, I would remember. Maybe I’m just getting better at my people skills!”
The darker-haired boy nodded, and swallowed down the tangle of anxiety. Of course nothing was wrong.
However, he continued to be almost completely silent as he walked, instead opting to listen to Grey as he changed the topic and explained the complete lore of an ARG. Other people might’ve found it annoying, but he was grateful for the noise, and for the change of topic.
They stayed that way until Winter reached the exit.
“Woah. It’s the same door I came in from.”
“Yes,” said Winter, waiting for Grey to leave, but instead he simply grabbed Winter’s pale, cold hand with his warm one and started walking towards it, meaning to exit with him. The taller boy just pulled away. “I’m staying,” he stated.
“Oh. Okay,” Grey said, sounding a bit surprised. “Will you be able to find stuff?”
That was a good question, actually. He could only really find two places in the library: the exit and the path to a certain part of the spirit world. It was rare for anyone to even know where to find anything there without being a guide, but due to certain duties he had, he could find that, at least.
But the shelf? The place was constantly moving, and he had no idea how to get back to it.
It didn’t matter though. He had carried the book with him, so now he just needed to find an empty spot in the library and finish learning how to summon the creature.
“Yes,” he lied.
“Oh yeah, after all, you could find the exit,” Grey said, coming to his own conclusions, all though it was completely wrong.
Winter shook his head. “That’s different.”
“Then…?” The confusion in the other boy’s voice was immense.
“I’ll explain later,” he said. He would explain when he could be normal. He’d explain when he was a person Grey could properly be friends with.
“Okay.”
“Mhm.”
“Bye.”
With a dry, and actually quite awkward goodbye, Winter turned his heel and began to walk, getting further and further away from the exit. He just needed to find an empty spot, and then it would be time.
However, the boy he walked away from didn’t even move. Not towards the exit, not anything. Simply stood there.
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Grey was perfectly still, standing in front of the door that could lead him back home. He stared at it for a second. Then the ground. Then his hands, which were in Winter’s for only a second before he pulled away.
Then, after a couple of moments, he finally did something, and reached out for the door handle. Then he paused, and returned his arm to his side.
He really shouldn’t be that worried. Winter said that he was going to be okay, and he knew how to navigate the place. He should have trusted him.
But for some reason, deep within himself, Grey felt that something was off, that he was going to go and do it anyway. That only when nearly killed by the consequences Winter would realize why he should’ve stopped.
He didn’t know why he knew all these things. Hell, he didn’t even know his fellow employee that well. Just that he worked with him and went to school with him, and that he always spoke using the smallest amount of words he could think of. Softly, quietly.
And that he was stubborn, and wouldn’t stop once he set his mind to it.
All of this was so stupid, and it just made Grey frustrated. Most of his worries weren’t even things he actually knew- just those weird hunches he talked about earlier.
He felt as if these thoughts, these worries he was having were like a set of puzzle pieces- all connected, except for that one, singular piece he couldn’t find, and the reason he was having those worries was the last piece.
“This is dumb,” Grey muttered to himself, shaking his head and grabbing the handle once more. He had to believe in Winter, and believe that he was telling the truth.
However, he found himself turning to face the huge library once more, a gigantic place that would probably take forever to navigate and he’d never be done- and apparently could move.
“So, so idiotic,” he told himself once more, trying to convince himself of the idea. He was going to go rushing into this place he already got lost in hours before, and with aching legs too- on a hunch that his new friend was going to do something dangerous? What he already said he wouldn’t do?
“Exactly,” he agreed with his thoughts, placing himself in front of the exit once more. He should leave. It was a foolish idea.
But… he was a foolish person himself. He was always making quick, impulsive decisions with little thought.
“Dammit,” he mumbled as he caved to his own wishes, and started to walk away from the door. “DAMMIT!” he yelled, and sped up, starting to sprint through the library, yellow rain boots slipping across the floor as he ran.
He ran, and ran and ran for his friend, despite his tired legs. Despite passing tall, enormous shelves he was sure he had never seen before. Despite not knowing where he was going.
Grey only knew one thing- that he didn’t know why he was doing this. But he had to find Winter, somewhere in the library. He would keep running until he found him.
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Winter had finished his book, and now he sat on the floor, cross-legged, with perfect posture, simply listening to the silence for a bit.
Well, he knew how to summon this creature that everybody told him not to find. He was going against everybody’s wishes.
But the memory of the whispers, the little murmurs of his oddness sprouted and flourished in his brain, growing bigger and bigger just to make him ticked off and frustrated with himself.
He wanted to be normal. He wanted to have friends. He wanted to stop being so weird.
With the small voice in the back of his mind pushing him, he went against his better judgment, and powered through with what he was going to do all along. Taking a deep breath, he started to say the chant, just a small string of words that would make an old, dangerous creature appear right in front of him if he did it right.
“Et ocov sutirips.”
Nothing.
He said it again.
“Et ocov sutirips.”
The silence, once one of his comforts, was now disheartening to him, but still, he tried again, having no more options left.
Third time’s the charm, right?
“Et ocov sutirips.”
He was beginning to grow frustrated, but then he heard something. Footsteps, loud, heavy footsteps approaching at a fast pace ,and sharp breathing. Winter paused. Could this be the spirit coming towards him?
No. It didn’t have legs, it was only made out of the faces it stole.
Ignoring the approaching footsteps, he tried even harder, hoping, wishing that something would happen.
“Et ocov sutirips-” he tried, one more time, beginning to wonder if he said it wrong-
But it appeared in front of him. He felt the creature’s presence, its huge, worrying presence right in front of him. Winter couldn’t see it, but he could feel it, and the feeling sent his nerves into panic mode, fear flowing through every vein.
Even though he felt that way, though, he didn’t move a muscle, and simply blinked.
The footsteps were getting louder. They were echoing throughout the grand library, closer and closer, but no one paid much attention to it, Winter focusing on the creature and the creature focusing on him.
Finally, it spoke, and through the way it talked, he could tell that it was grinning from ear to ear.
“Why, hello there. To whom do I owe the pleasure of being summoned?”
“My name… is Winter Duke,” he said. He could feel the spirit get closer to him, just as one could tell a person was getting closer by their warmth, except this thing didn’t radiate heat. Instead, it emitted a bone-chilling cold, that trailed to every part of his body.
It spoke, this time with a different voice, and from a different place on its body. He assumed that it was talking from a different face.
“Yes, yes. And why is such a pretty face summoning me? What could you possibly need?”
“I want…” he tried to find the right words to voice what he wanted, what this creature could possibly give him. “To be normal. Smile.” Since it had so many faces, surely it could teach him.
He could hear it laughing at him, laughing so, so hard. “Well, of course,” it replied, speaking in yet another voice. “No worries, I’ll have your problem solved, very… very… soon. Your face will wear the most beautiful smile!”
Winter could feel it getting closer, and the air changed as it lunged at him.
Without missing a beat, the tall boy dodged it, a quick sidestep to the side as it zoomed past him, unable to stop with the sheer amount of force it put into the lunge. A loud crash and the sound of many books falling told him that it had destroyed a shelf.
“Don’t ruin the library,” he said. It was a very important place. Aeris would also be mad if it was destroyed.
It groaned as it got up again, and moved over to Winter. “How did you do that?”
“Do what?” It was extremely hard to even tell that he asked a question, with how flat his tone of voice was.
“You dodged me.”
“Yes,” he said, and it was true. He had.
“I move faster than anything on and from Earth. Even most spirits.”
“Yes,” he agreed once more, and blinked.
“You… are you a…”
The creature, at a loss for words, was interrupted with those footsteps from earlier, now louder than ever. They stopped as the person running skidded to a stop, hyperventilating like they would never get a breath of air ever again.
“WINTER!”
“...Grey?”
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Grey wanted to say more. He wanted to scream at the grotesque monster that stood in front of Winter. He wanted to yell at the taller boy for being so horribly stupid.
He couldn’t do any of those things though, as he huffed and puffed for breath, looking up at what stood before him.
The monster was horrible, something even worse than he imagined, and damn, no wonder Aeris was worried. It was huge, and shaped like a gigantic worm, but instead of being made out of… whatever worms were made of, it consisted of faces. Many, many faces.
It didn’t discriminate. Old faces, young, no matter the race, gender, or any of that, they were all there, moving in perfect sync to look at him. All of the faces collectively gave him a frown as they gazed upon his figure, but ultimately, it ignored him, and turned its focus back to Winter.
It was doing something weird, extending the barrage of human heads to form some sort of hand, only made out of people, and slowly, it was descending towards Winter. All million of its faces were smiling, grinning widely.
Winter didn’t move, instead, his eyes slightly wide as he turned to face Grey, shocked at the voice.
Grey was so tired. He felt dizzy and ready to collapse. He hadn’t even run the entire two hours he was looking for Winter, stopping after five minutes, walking and shouting his name, but he started sprinting once he heard the chant, and then the crash.
He wasn’t going to stay where he was, though, even though he felt like his feet were planted to the floor and that monster was scaring him to the point of nearly throwing up.
Instead, he ran once more, throwing himself right into the situation right as what he assumed The One With a Million Faces tried to grab his friend with its grimy hands… (heads?)
Going as fast as his legs could take him, he charged straight into Winter, knocking over. It was not an easy feat, seeing as how small he was compared to Winter’s larger form, but he managed it, throwing all of his weight into the shove just as it was about to grab his face off.
He landed on top of his friend as they both crashed downwards to the wooden floor.
“Winter!” he finally shouted, catching enough of his breath to shout the other boy’s name once more, propping himself up with his arms enough to look down at those icy blue eyes. “I… I…” he tried to formulate a thought in between inhales. “Do you know how stupid you are?”
“Grey…”
“Touching moment,” the spirit interjected, and started slithering towards them at top speeds.
Grey reflexively let out a yelp, but made a split-second decision to protect his friend. He couldn’t run to the side, it was going way too fast, but he could manage to stand up and hold himself up in front of Winter, his arms out at his sides and a stern expression on his face. He wouldn’t let it get his friend.
It could take Grey’s face, for all he cared, just not Winter’s.
As he prepared for the impact of the ginormous thing to rip his face off, he felt… nothing. Just an arm around his waist and cold air around him as the wind blew.
Wait. There wasn't any wind indoors.
Taking in the situation, he realized that Winter was holding him at his side, the way one would hold a basketball at their side, under their arm and pressed against the side of their waist.
“Eh?”
As he was being held, Winter was running, at top speed, sprinting like he was about to die. Well, given that they were being chased by a monster trying to rip off their faces, it wasn’t too far off, actually.
They zoomed through the library, and Grey turned to look behind him, and his eyes met with a million pairs looking back as the spirit chased them, wiggling in the most horrid, unnatural way, like a worm in a race that was somehow winning.
All of the faces had a frustrated grin, their brows furrowed and mouths turned downwards. It was unnerving seeing a ton of different people making the exact same expression and staring at him.
Winter kept sprinting, at an inhuman speed, one foot after the other. Somehow he was going even faster than the spirit, but it was still a close match.
Still though, it was impressive. He should have tried out for the track team, he would have left his competitors in the dust.
The tall boy kept running, but so far, he had only really been running down a long, open aisle of bookshelves, that was completely straight. He didn’t need to see where he was going to run very far, since there was nothing in his way.
But then the first obstacle arose- a tall, winding staircase in the middle of the aisle, with little bookshelves in each golden stair. The placing of it made no sense, but the library didn’t really make much sense in terms of organization.
The frame was made out of solid metal- and oh boy, crashing into that wouldn’t be pleasant.
They approached it rapidly, the stairs in front of them and a monster in the back. Quickly, Grey yelled out: “WINTER! THERE’S SOMETHING IN FRONT OF YOU! GO LEFT!”
Without missing a beat, he leaped to the left, just barely missing the staircase. He landed on his feet and kept running.
“That was a close one,” Grey breathed, allowing himself to exhale. They had gotten past the obstacle, and could keep escaping the creature better…
Until he looked forward once more, and gazed upon the part of the library they were running through, now littered with barriers and hurdles that they would have to leap through.
This part of the library felt more akin to some type of 4-D maze, with stairs zipping around in spirals, upside down, across the walls- bookshelves in odd shapes, and some floating like spheres suspended in air. There was even a peculiar table, with its legs twenty feet tall and chairs fashioned to match.
Oh boy. He knew the library was weird, but he hadn’t seen it this weird.
He didn’t want Winter to get hurt, so quickly, he called out more commands, simple things like: “Jump!” or “move to the right!” or just “duck!”
Some of them were close calls, and the sheer amount of dodging through the dangerous path was slowing them down, but thankfully, it seemed to slow down The One With a Million Faces as well.
Such a large creature had less area for movement in some of the cramped spaces, and it couldn’t just slip its way through narrow openings. Instead, it had to opt for smashing through some of the beautiful structures, which definitely lowered some of the momentum it was gathering while it chased them.
A couple of minutes passed, and neither the beast nor Winter seemed to tire.
Grey, however, despite being the only one not running, did. The running wasn’t perfect, and he had banged against several structures in the process of being pursued- a dangling limb against a shelf, the railing of a staircase, anything of the sort.
However, they kept going, somehow. Grey didn’t exactly know how long this chase was going to last, though, but he hoped it would end soon.
“Jump!” he had yelled, when they approached a gaping pit full of discarded, torn-up books, and Winter followed Grey’s instructions, leaping up into the air. They landed safely on the other side, and he kept running.
Grey glanced back at the creature following them. The trench was deep, and quite wide. With the way it was worm-shaped, there was no way it could jump over that- right?
The One With a Million Faces jumped too- curling up, and then springing itself over the chasm.
Oh, come on! That didn’t even stop it!?
Grey glanced back forward, reminding himself that he was supposed to be paying attention, just to find that they were almost face-to face with a huge brick wall. Quickly, he screamed: “RIGHT! GO RIGHT!”
To their right, there seemed to be another aisle of books, and Winter veered in the direction given, continuing down that way.
Only to find…
That that aisle was a dead end.
“STOP, WINTER, STOP!”
“...?” The taller boy had an air of confusion as he stopped, but he still complied, halting just before they were about to hit the wall. “Grey?”
“We’re at a dead end…” he said, as if all of this was his fault. “I’m sorry,” Grey apologized.
Winter had no expression, as usual, but Grey convinced himself that the taller boy was disappointed in him as he kneeled and set Grey down back on his feet. They were only able to stand there like sitting ducks as that thing approached them.
The One With a Million Faces followed them quickly, running towards them and then halting near the only exit, from where the pair had come. This essentially trapped them, and it smiled at them, with all of its faces, lips stretching far and wide as it showed all its sets of teeth.
“You guys really made it hard for me, huh? Well, no matter. I’ll take good care of your faces.”
Grey glimpsed at Winter, who was simply standing still, like a statue, as he always did. However, that peculiar thing was happening again- black particles were slowly starting to form around him, just like they had in the cafe.
It was confusing, but he turned back to the creature that surely wouldn’t improve their health. What could he do to protect both of them? Keep Winter safe?
He racked his brains for an idea. If it had to do with Grey getting hurt in the process, so be it, just as long as no one else was injured but him.
Then, he got something. It was stupid, but he got something, and that was all he had.
Villains in movies and comics always loved to talk about themselves, so, why not just make this thing talk? (This tactic also worked quite a lot in real life, too.)
“Hey, face creature thing.”
It paused, obviously puzzled. Winter stiffened even more, (if that was even possible), and the black particles stopped forming around him, just for a second, as he listened to Grey’s words.
“Why are you doing this? Why do you need so many faces? Don’t you have enough?”
It blinked, with its large set of eyes, and stared at Grey, as if he was trying to tell if Grey was attempting to make a joke. But then it responded, opening one of its mouths to speak.
“I will never have enough.”
Urging for it to talk more, he pressed on: “Are you sure? Because a million seems like a little bit of an excess.”
“When I was a young spirit, my father took me into the city to see a marching band…” it started to talk about its background, how it was raised, and its motivations. (It had a very interesting motivation that was very well-written, but Grey wasn’t listening to it very hard, so unfortunately, any readers wanting to know about it would not be able to get access to the backstory of The One With a Million Faces. But it was very relevant and well-crafted, keep that in mind.)
It talked, and talked, but it did not attack, much to his reassurance.
Exhaling a small sigh of relief, he looked up at Winter, who was still not doing anything, but the black particles had disappeared. Instead, he had his head tilted ever so slightly to the side, as if to represent his bewilderment.
“How…?” he murmured, voice barely above a whisper. While he had an aura of puzzlement, he also had another feeling coming from him. Relief.
“I don’t know. I just figured that if it talked, it would get itself busy and leave us alone, at least enough to buy us some time,” Grey said under his breath, not wanting the spirit to hear.
“Well. Thanks,” said Winter.
Now there was the problem of how to get around it without it noticing… however, they unfortunately never had to approach that problem, which would have been much preferred to what came next.
Noticing their indifference toward its story, it grew mad, very, very, incredibly mad, and glared down upon them. “You were just trying to distract me!” It declared, this time speaking through a young child’s mouth.
“Glad you finally noticed,” Grey spewed without thinking, but then rapidly regretted it, as it just seemed to make it even more enraged.
It slithered forward, and reached out, with a claw made out of human faces. “You’ll pay for that stunt.”
Grey instinctively stepped back. He didn’t mind dying, but death by the creature’s nasty hand really wasn’t ideal.
Still, he’d rather it got him than Winter. Fighting against instinct, he stepped forward, closer to it, and positioned himself in front of his friend, who was starting to get those black particles forming around him once more.
Winter heard him though, and picked him up by the waist, lifting him up on the ground, and then placing him back down so that Grey was positioned behind him. “No.”
“Yes,” Grey said, stepping back to where he was moments earlier, so that Winter was the one behind him. “I don’t want you getting hurt.”
They bickered about who was sacrificing themselves first, but the spirit rolled all of its eyes and simply reached out, quickly. Its hand was only inches away from reaching Winter’s face.
Oh. Oh no.
They were done for.
But, they were saved, somehow, with some kind of immense luck.
A glow came from behind the creature as a distinctly female voice spoke. “Sorefni da erider. Oeled et acehtoilbib cah xe, inrefni sutirips.” It sounded like some kind of gibberish, but the creature seemed to understand, and its eyes widened, turning around.
It was strange, because its back contained a lot of faces, too.
“A keeper of the library!”
“That’s me,” the woman replied, and the glow brightened.
“Please,” it said nervously, lowering itself so that it could look at her better. Even though it was lowered, it was hard for Grey to tell what exactly she looked like, as she was shrouded in bright light. “I can explain.”
“No. You destroyed part of the library I’m supposed to be protecting.”
“PLEASE!” it exclaimed again, begging. “DON’T TOUCH ME WITH THAT SPELL OF YOURS!”
“You shouldn’t have tried to rip off my employee’s faces, then.”
“Those were… your employees? And how did you know I-”
There was a huff heard from the other side. “Hello? I’m one of the spiritually appointed managers of this place? Of course I’m going to know.”
“But-”
“God, shut up, I’m tired,” she said, and the bright light got brighter. Then, its eyes widened, and it simply… disappeared, fading away.
It was gone, and so was the light that covered the woman, and now he could properly see her. Her boots, a familiar button-up shirt quite like the ones she always wore…
It was Aeris, their boss.
“HOLY-!” Grey didn’t know what to say, but he was shocked, nonetheless.
She held a small book in her left hand, and in her right, the remnants of that glow from before were fading quickly. She seemed tired, and her partially dyed hair was just a little windblown.
“Do you know how much trouble you caused for me?” she asked once she finally caught sight of them. She shook her head, tucking the small book in one of her pockets, and then crossed her arms, as if waiting for him to explain.
Grey was at a loss for words, and his mouth was left hanging open. Aeris… somehow defeated that giant thing? What was that glow? “How…”
Before Grey could ask any questions, Winter stepped forward, and nodded his head slightly. “...Thanks,” he murmured.
Aeris waved her hand dismissively. “I’m just taking care of my domain, don’t worry,” she said, but was looking at Winter with a light bit of worry in her eyes. “Anyway, good job on evading the thing for so long, but,” she walked towards them, annoyance now prominent on her expression… “WHY DID YOU HAVE TO CAUSE SO MUCH TROUBLE!?”
She was now in between the two of them, and pinching both of their ears, hard.
“Ow ow ow ow!” Grey exclaimed, not expecting the sudden sharp pain in his ear. “What did I do!?”
“Ow,” Winter said, though he didn’t really sound hurt in the slightest. Because he was taller than Aeris, he had to bend down to match her height, and avoid getting his entire ear pulled off.
“You guys have no idea how much destruction was caused here! What is my boss going to say!?” she snapped, scowling.
“Ow ow ow!” Grey said even more, a very intelligent response to her outburst, but hey, her nail was starting to dig into his ear, and it kind of hurt.
“Winter! I told you not to summon that creature! And what did you do? You still went against my word!” Aeris said, pulling him down towards her even more. “Grey!” she then said, turning her attention to the other boy, “I also told you to just tell him that it was dangerous again! You didn’t have to rush in and try to help him! You’re not the same as him, you could have ended up killed!”
He would have asked more questions, or said something about how it didn’t really matter if he ended up hurt, but the pain was really getting to him.
“I’m sorry I’m sorry just let go!” he squeaked, and she finally released him. He took a step back and rubbed his ear, which was now throbbing.
She also let go of Winter’s ear, and he stood back up to his full, towering height, that eternal stone face present. “Sorry,” he apologized as well.
The woman sighed, and shook her head. “I… it’s not okay that you went against my warning, but… I’m glad that you’re alright.” she turned back to look at Grey, who was still rubbing his ear, as if he could just pick up the pain like a scab and flick it off. “I’m glad he’s okay too.”
It was silent for a moment, as everybody tried to think of something to say after the awkward silence. They were beaten up, and tired, standing smack in the middle of a damaged library.
“I’m… sorry,” Winter said again, but this time reaching out in the direction of Grey. “So sorry.”
Grey noticed, and took the taller boy’s hand in his, and tilted his head slightly. “Hm? What are you apologizing for?”
“You told me not to do that. But I did. You almost got hurt.”
There was a deep silence again, and Grey shook his head. “It wasn’t really about the spirit, it was more about internalizing what the bullies told you, really. What they say about you isn’t true.”
Winter paused for a moment, then simply asked: “bullies?”
“Yes, those girls that you told me were talking about you. The flower girls?”
“Oh. Girls in class.”
“Yes. I don’t really know if you got what I was trying to tell you earlier, because I don’t think I explained it well enough, but… they’re bullies. They just want to put other people down, Winter. Nothing is wrong with you, and you can express yourself however you want. You don’t have to force yourself to smile.”
“I…” was starting to make a little bit of sense for Winter.
Maybe there wasn’t something wrong with him, but it was hard to believe that there were some people that just thought it was a good idea to make comments like those for no reason. What was the point?
He was also friendless, so that was proof that he was weird and they were right… maybe.
“I just don’t want you getting hurt because you tried to change yourself for people that will never be happy. It’ll make me sad if that happens.”
“I won’t get hurt,” Winter said, confidently. “I’m fast.”
A small chortle came from Grey, and Winter was sure that he was smiling that big smile of his once again. “No. Hurt, in your heart. Like a feeling, a deep, dark feeling.”
“Oh.”
Grey clutched Winter’s hands just the tiniest bit tighter, and said: “Basically, what I’m trying to say is, I care about you. You’re my friend.”
Winter’s face lit up, and Grey could see the tiniest smile form, all on his own, without thinking. “Really? We’re… friends?”
“Of course we are!” he exclaimed in return, grinning from ear to ear now. “I mean, we go to work and school in the same place, right? We know each other, and talk sometimes. I’ve even been to your house!”
“That counts as… friends?”
“Yes!” the brunet explained, without a doubt, and his eyes sparkled like they were filled with stars. But then the enthusiasm faded, and he simply said: “Oh. Unless that doesn’t count as friends yet?”
Winter knew exactly what he was going to say.
“Uh…” Grey trailed off, trying to find the right words, “you’re the first person I’d consider a friend, actually. Maybe I’m doing this wrong?”
It was just as Winter thought. His heart sank a bit, as he thought something to himself.
He was sorry that he was the one that had to be his first friend. Truly.
“No, it’s fine,” Winter replied, shaking off the excess thoughts. Just the thought of Grey genuinely, actually viewing them as friends made his heart bloom, and he selfishly took all of those good, beautiful feelings for himself. “We are… friends.”
“Yay!”
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Aeris watched the two of them interact, maybe still a little politely at first, but still quite sweet nonetheless.
She wanted to still go over there and lecture Winter, just a little bit more, because she really did have a lot to clean up now.
It was her duty, after all, as one of the keepers of the library. There were a couple other keepers, or guides, scattered across the world near other entrances, but it was still a big job for even a team of people.
The library was pretty big, of course, too big for one individual to walk through in their lifetime. It was a grand responsibility, too, as it didn’t only house all of the information in both the living and spirit worlds, but it also was the bridge between both, a little in-between space.
It was a lot of responsibility, and a lot of work.
And that brat just made it harder, summoning a creature from the spirit world into it?
Aeris was glad to banish it back to the spirit world, really, so it could never enter the premises again, but still, it was not appreciated. She had a lot on her plate.
So really, she couldn’t be blamed if she went out and lectured them once more, just for them making her life harder…
But she didn’t, figuring against it as she glanced back at Winter and Grey, talking. It was mostly Grey, going on about how cool the library was, how scary the monster had been, and mindlessly showering Winter in compliments.
The taller, more quiet boy, simply listened to Grey, nodding along every so often as his pale skin turned slightly pink.
Yeah. She wouldn’t go lecture anybody, at that moment.
Those boys had something special, really.
She just hoped no one would end up getting hurt because of it.
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Back in his class, he heard the three girls talking again, dissing everybody, as well as him.
This time, Winter decided not to listen.
After all, while they technically were talking about him, he knew that it wasn’t really about him.
They were just bullies, and would never be happy, so there was no reason to change for them.
Plus, it didn’t matter what they thought.
Because he had a friend. His first friend, who cared about him enough to stand in front of him while a monster was attacking. A monster that he summoned. To smile, and just say not to do it next time, and then call him… a friend.
That thought made him smile to himself a bit, just a small one.
Winter heard the girls gasp as they saw him smile, and wonder what he was even grinning about.
He didn’t care.
See? He did have feelings. But he would express them, the genuine ones, on his own time. 228Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCqsfqt8ENQ
